According to some archeological theories, proso millet
domestication took place around the beginning of the Holocene as
global temperatures became warmer and hunter-gatherers were exposed
to new plants and environments.

Stout, up to 1 m or more high, smooth or somewhat hairy (a) for
several cm below each node (b), especially where not enclosed
within the leaf sheath.

Leaves

Leaf sheaths (c) densely hairy, the hairs somewhat harsh and
standing more or less perpendicular to the surface; leaf sheaths
split, their margins membranous, overlapping just above each node
but becoming separate upwards nearer the leaf blade; leaves smooth
to sparsely hairy, elongate, to 30 cm or longer, and 5 - 25 mm
wide, widest just above the rounded base and tapering towards the
tip; ligule (d) a band of hairs 2 - 5 mm long, the bases of the
hairs united and more or less membranous; no auricles.

Roots

Fibrous root system.

Flowers and
fruits

Panicle either dense and arching or nodding to one side (D)
(usually associated with cream-, orange- or reddish-seeded forms)
or erect and loose or open (E) (usually associated with
black-seeded forms), 8 - 30 cm long; spikelets (e) ovoid, 4 - 5.5
mm long and Â½ to 2/3 as wide; seeds 3 - 3.5 mm long by about 1.6 -
2.0 mm wide, hard and usually shiny, varying in colour from white
through shades of yellow, orange and brown to black, the darker
coloured seeds with 5 parallel beige veins.

Habit / Habitat

It is a grass species which is used as a crop and is cultivated
widely.

It is a widely cultivated crop and with a short growing season.
Proso millet grows best in full sun, moist to dry conditions, and
can perform well in many soil types. It is found in croplands,
fallow fields, roadsides, waste sites, and disturbed soils.

Occurrence
1)

Availability of the plant species in India: It is largely grown
in Madhya Pradesh, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

2) Global distribution: It is cultivated widely across the
globe, however it is extensively cultivated in India, Russia,
Ukraine, the Middle East, Turkey and
Romania

Edible parts

World wide use
Seeds

Used by tribal community in Jawhar
Seeds as grains

Method of consumption

Jawhar tribal

It is generally consumed as Soup with some minor spices.

Grains are boiled to prepare khichadi by adding local
ingredients.

Other Recipe

Millet Biryani

Same like vegetable rice biryani, just millets are required to
soak for almost an hour in warm water.

Medicinal use

It is used as a health food in Brazil, USA, UK and Canada,
mainly for the people who are intolerant to gluten.

Nutritional and medicinal information

Nutritive Significance:

Protein content of the millet was compared with wheat or rice
and it has been observed that millet it is almost similar to that
of wheat but it has richer content of essential amino acids and
hence, essential amino acid content index was higher (51%) in
millet than wheat.

It consist of health-promoting phenolic compounds that are
readily bioaccessible with a high calcium content. It favors bone
strengthening and dental health.

Harvesting and preserving

Proso millet is ready for harvest after 65-75 days of sowing in
most of the varieties. Harvest the crop when it is about to mature.
The seeds in the tip of upper heads ripe and shatter before the
lower seeds and later panicles get mature. Therefore, the crop
should be harvested when about two thirds of seeds are ripe. Crop
is threshed with hand or bullocks.

Grains could be preserved

Propagation and Storage

Season of collection

Flowers from July to September

How to grow it?

Proso millet should be sown in the first fortnight of July with
the onset of monsoon rains and as a summer crop it should be sown
by the middle of April. 8-12 kg seed is required for sowing one
hectare of land.

Method of storage

Seeds for cultivation as well as grains for consumption.

Other uses

In the United States, proso is mainly grown for livestock and
birdseed and also grown as catch/cover crop for winter wheat, corn
and sorghum in USA.

Starch is also obtained from millets and is a good substrate
for fermentation and malting with grains having similar starch
contents as wheat grains.